Britain's top Catholic cardinal, Keith O'Brien is pictured giving a thumbs-up, grinning alongside pedophile Jimmy Savile at a fund-raising event in Edinburgh six years ago.

O'Brien - who resigned as head of the Church in Scotland following claims that he made sexual advances towards priests - met the former DJ and charity fundraiser in the 1970s when O’Brien was a priest in rural Scotland, and worked with a friend of Savile's mother.

They were pictured together in Scotland in 2007 as the pair unveiled a vehicle for the disabled.

When the Savile pedophilia scandal erupted last year, O'Brien called for him to be stripped of his papal knighthood, awarded in 1990.

There is no suggestion that Cardinal O’Brien had any part in the Savile abuse scandal.

O’Brien apologised as he announced he will not take part in the Vatican connclave to elect the next Pope.

In a statement the Cardinal, 74, said: "Looking back over my years of ministry: for any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended."

O'Brien denies the allegations, which date back to the 1980s, but apologised to anyone offended by "failures'' during his ministry.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the former archbishop of Westminster, said he was "saddened'' by O'Brien's resignation - which leaves Britain without a vote in the conclave which shall elect the next Pope - and insisted that the Vatican had not put pressure on him to step down.

"That was his decision to do so. He wasn't forced to do so, he wasn't asked to do so,'' Murphy-O'Connor said, adding that O'Brien was "a very honest man'' who denies the allegations.

"Those matters will be investigated,'' he told journalists, adding that the scandal is "very damaging'' for the Catholic Church in Scotland.

Campaigners are also calling for several cardinals linked to the pedophile priest scandals that dominated Benedict's reign to give up their votes in the conclave.

The climate of intrigue has been further stoked by rumours that Benedict's resignation could have been linked to an explosive report on the "Vatileaks'' scandal, which exposed corruption and conflicts in the Church.

Jimmy Savile BBC pedophile scandal

Savile was a hugely popular but eccentric figure, famed for his shock of white hair, tracksuits and chunky gold jewellery, but since his death his reputation has been destroyed by revelations that he abused hundreds of children and women.

British police said last month in a report into his activities that Savile "groomed the nation" over six decades, hiding behind his fame to assault girls, boys and adult women on BBC premises and in schools and hospitals.

The publicly-funded BBC made Savile one of its biggest stars in the 1970s and 1980s as presenter of BBC TV's Top of the Pops chart show and children's program Jim'll Fix It.

The revelations about the abuse by Savile threw the BBC into crisis.

The broadcaster has commissioned an independent investigation into the allegations.

In December the BBC also published a critical review into the decision by its flagship current affairs program Newsnight to drop a report into the alleged abuse following Savile's death.

The presenter's estate, worth a reported 4.3 million pounds ($A6.57 million), was frozen in November in the wake of the allegations.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.